Amongst the Sakuras
by Blue Yukiko
Summary: Amongst the sakuras, in an endless sea of pink, everything seemed wonderful. But little by little, my life began to fade from my eyes, and my world became smaller. That's when I realized that I needed you. Please, don't go... ch. 3 up
1. Graduation Day

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket. It all belongs to Takaya-sensei. I wish I had as much talent and imagination as her...lol ^ ^; oh well. This'll do until then.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Fruits Basket  
  
Amongst the Sakuras  
  
By Blue Yukiko  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Why didn't I realize it before?  
  
The more time passes, the more I realize that I need you even more.  
  
I miss you, but I'm not sure if you've noticed.  
  
No, you haven't, because you're not here with me.  
  
Please come back...  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Spring: the end of Tohru, Yuki, and Kyou's third year of high school. Now we join them at graduation, amongst the sakuras.  
  
Their classmates swarmed the school grounds in their uniforms, all carrying diplomas, showing that they've graduated.  
  
"I'm so happy for you Tohru!," Uo shouted at the top of her lungs, "You got into one of the best universities in Japan!"  
  
She embraced the small brown-haired girl tightly, almost crushing her in sheer comparison.  
  
Throughout high school, it was pretty obvious that Tohru Honda wasn't very, well, "bright", but she picked up during their third year and did exceptionally well, with a lot of help thanks to Yuki Sohma.  
  
"Ah, the electric waves in the air are marvelous today," Hana said with a very relaxed smile on her face.  
  
The sakuras were falling gently with the breeze that engulfed their school in an endless sea of pink.  
  
"Yankee, you're going to crush Tohru like that," Kyou said with his hands in his pockets and a scowl on his face.  
  
"It's a wonder you even passed with good enough grades to graduate, carrot top," Uo sneered back.  
  
"Hmph," was all Kyou said in response. He didn't want to ruin today, too much anyway.  
  
"That's right. You should know you're place, baka neko," remarked Yuki.  
  
"Oh yea?!" Kyou said, cat ears popping out of his head and fists raised, "Come here and say that kuso nezumi!"  
  
Apparently, their relationship still hadn't changed at all.  
  
"A...ano...Kyou-kun, Sohma-kun, please don't fight," Tohru said timidly.  
  
They both looked at her and relaxed.  
  
And of course, their feelings towards Tohru hadn't changed either.  
  
Many girls were crying, mainly because they wouldn't be able to see their beloved Prince Yuki again. Especially those who belonged to the Prince Yuki Fan Club. They were extremely mad that they couldn't share the last day with their beloved prince.  
  
During the whole week before, Yuki had been getting love confessions by pretty much every girl that crossed his path, which irritated him a lot. The only ones he didn't hear from were Uo, Hana, and Tohru.  
  
That saddened him a little, since he knew that he wouldn't be going to the same college as Tohru during the next year.  
  
"Well well, what a cozy scene this is," Shigure said as he approached them in his usual kimono that he wears outdoors, followed closely by Momiji and Hatsuharu behind him.  
  
Momiji grabbed Tohru's hand tightly and rubbed his cheek against hers, his usual sign of greeting. Tohru replied with a smile and a laugh.  
  
Hatsuharu immediately went to Yuki, not surprisingly.  
  
They all talked and laughed together, knowing that this would be the last time, for all they knew, that they would be together in one place.  
  
That day, everything was perfect. Nothing could've gone wrong on a day like this, where the air was so crisp and clean, and the sakura petals filled the clear blue sky.  
  
A/N:  
  
Yay! My first story in a while! lol Sorry for this first chapter being so short. Anyway, Yumi-chan helped me with starting this story. I've had writer's block for the past couple of months and she's been wanting me to write a fanfic for the longest time. So yea.  
  
This story is actually loosely based on my life right now. Can't tell u what happened tho. U guys will just hafta wait and see what happens... ^ ^ v 


	2. Our Little Flower is Gone

Fruits Basket  
  
Amongst the Sakuras  
  
Chapter 2

-------  
  
Tohru had all of her things packed and ready to go. Today she would be leaving the Sohma's house to start a new life in college. While she was still looking for anything she missed, the others were downstairs, waiting for her.  
  
"I don't think she'll be safe living by herself. Remember how much of a ditz she is," Kyou remarked.  
  
"Well, it's Honda-san's choice whether she wants to go or not," Yuki replied.  
  
"Who asked you, baka nezumi!"  
  
Kyou was in an even more irritable mood this morning, for obvious reasons. It would be the first time that Tohru left their house since her grandfather's house was remodeled a couple years back.  
  
"Now now, settle down, Kyou," Shigure said cheerfully, "Tohru-kun will come back to visit once in a while. No need to get flustered."  
  
"I am not flustered!" Kyou yelled, blushing furiously.  
  
Yuki was getting really annoyed by now.  
  
"You're going to make my ears bleed, kuso neko."  
  
"You-"  
  
But before Kyou could finish his sentence, Tohru came down the stair, carrying her bags with her usual cheerful smile.  
  
"Uo's here! I have to go!"  
  
Uo and Hana came riding up in Uo's brand new car. It was a gift she got for graduation from her dad.  
  
"I'll come back to visit as often as I can, to make sure that everyone's all right and getting along well. Okay?"  
  
"All right then," Shigure said, "Remember, if you ever feel homesick, we'll be here to welcome you, okay? This will always be your home."  
  
"Hai! Thank you so much, for everything."  
  
She bowed and ran over to Uo's car, placing her things in the trunk. As she opened the backseat door, she waved a final goodbye to the family she had come to know and got in. Uo drove them off on the beaten forest road, disappearing within the trees.  
  
The guys looked on silently for a few minutes, an emptiness creeping into their hearts.  
  
"She's really gone now," Shigure said quietly.  
  
It was now just the three of them, as it had been before Tohru came into their lives.  
  
Kyou walked into the house, though it was pretty obvious that he was going to the roof to sulk.  
  
Yuki was just standing there, looking at the road sadly.  
  
Depressed by the both of them, Shigure went inside to read his newspaper.

-----  
  
Kyou climbed on the roof of their house, the tiles making small clicking sounds with every step he took. But instead of lying down like he usually did, he stood there, trying to see as far as he could, to try to even catch a glimpse of Tohru again. It was a futile effort though, as Uo's car had driven off too far for him to see.  
  
He sat down and sighed.  
  
"What am I gonna do without her?" he thought.  
  
Tohru was the only thing that kept Kyou reasonably cheerful, and pretty happy compared to before. And now that she was gone...well, he didn't want to think about it. All he knew was that it was going to be lonely from now on without sweet, little, clumsy Tohru.

-----  
  
Yuki walked up to his room to lie down on his bed, when he saw Tohru's room was open. He walked into her room, which was completely empty, except for the bed and desk that Shigure had given to her as a gift. Of course, she couldn't bring those with her to college.  
  
Yuki sighed sadly and was about to leave her room, but he spotted something half-hidden by the closet door. He picked it up and realized that it was a photograph of everyone together: Tohru, himself, Kyou, Shigure, Kagura (hugging and choking Kyou) Haru, Momiji, Kisa, Hiro, Ayame (who was hanging onto Yuki's shoulder, which caused a loathing look on his face), and Ritsu, at a festival. Apparently, Tohru had accidentally left this behind. Yuki looked nostalgic as he stared at the picture, everyone happy as they could be, mainly, and Tohru having the most radiant smile of all.  
  
He stuffed it into his pocket and closed the door behind him. How he would miss her wonderful smile, like the one in the photograph.

-----  
  
Shigure was reading his newspaper, glasses on, cigarette in hand, when he looked out of the door into the yard. He remembered how Tohru would hang laundry outside in that exact spot, sheets and shirts waving in the breeze, and there was her, as cheerful as she always was. Now it was bare, devoid of laundry, and the warmth Tohru emanated from her presence in the house.  
  
It hadn't even been a day, and already it seemed like she had been gone for years. But then again, to Tohru's friends, Shigure, Yuki, and Kyou, a minute seemed like a lifetime, and a life without Tohru would be hard to live.  
  
Their little flower was gone.

-----  
  
Tohru looked wistfully out the windows of Uo's car, into the trees beside the road, which were passing by in a blur.  
  
Hana could feel irregular electric waves coming from her, and knew something was wrong.  
  
"You're going to miss the Sohmas, aren't you Tohru?" she said, breaking the silence of their trip.  
  
Uo looked over at Hana, just now realizing what was going through their friend's mind.  
  
"Huh? Oh, uh...yes. I will miss them. But, I promised that I would come back to visit, so it's okay. Besides, I'm sure that they can get along without me," Tohru answered with her usual carefree smile, one that hid more pain than anyone realized.  
  
Uo went back to steering, but Hana continued to observe Tohru, for the irregular waves hadn't ceased.  
  
Tohru sat quietly in the backseat of the car, fidgeting with her hands. Her sky blue dress contrasted with the black seats she sat on. Even she was wondering what was wrong.  
  
"There's this...strange emptiness that I feel, though I don't know why," she thought to herself.  
  
She knew she missed the Sohmas already, but that wasn't it.  
  
There was...something else.  
  
A/N: Ack, I finally get this uploaded... I've been really busy lately so this is a miracle that I've actually gotten time to type this out.  
  
Ok, I gotta tell u ppl. I have seen the WHOLE anime series, yes, but I've only got a few of the mangas, I think up to book 7 or so, so there'll be stuff from the manga and stuff from the anime mixed into the story, but if anything is left out, don't blame me ;;; I don't know enough information from the manga to really put a lot of stuff from there, so this'll mainly be based on the anime, w/ a lil bit of the manga thrown in. ok? So yea. Bai bai for now.  
  
Ok, this was revised because I COMPLETELY forgot about the Sohma family curse. ARGH!!! I'm really REALLY stoopid!!! ok ok, I'm gonna calm down now. Well, here ya go...again.


	3. Horrible Day

Fruits Basket

Amongst the Sakuras

Chapter 3

Tohru's first day at her new university was, to put it lightly, awful.

While trying to look for her new apartment building with Uo and Hana, they came across a group of gang members looking to jump Uo (not surprisingly anyway). Hana scared them off with her poison electric waves, as usual.

Well, they finally found it, but while climbing the stairs, Tohru dropped her bags down to the bottom level, and had to go down and get them before the downstairs neighbor accidentally drove over it with his car.

After dropping off all of her stuff, Uo wanted to give her a ride to her classes, but since the campus was only a couple blocks away, Tohru said that she would walk. Uo protectively begged her to let her drive her there, but Tohru insisted. So, with a hug from both of them, Uo and Hana left her at her apartment while Tohru gathered her books and bags to go to her new school.

At the campus, things didn't go so well either.

She got lost trying to find her first class, biology, and somehow wound up at the baseball field. A player that was practicing had to give her directions to where the science building was. She apologized frantically and was off.

Tohru had almost gotten there when a car sped by right in front of her (because she forgot to look if there were any cars coming), causing her to fall on her butt, spilling all the books she had brought with her, some people stepping on them by accident. She begged them not to step on her stuff, but when she saw her notebook that had her mom's picture in it, she immediately snatched it up before someone almost stepped on it. Tohru just waited for everyone to pass before picking up her things and walking to class.

Because of all that had happened, she ended up being late to class, but the teacher didn't really seem to care. He was just droning on about the molecules. So, she sat there for about 5 hours taking notes on everything he said, though they weren't very good notes really. When they all finally got out of class, she was so dead tired she barely had the energy to walk home.

Tohru was so out of it that she almost collapsed in the middle of the road with (another) car speeding by. As she was falling, the car getting closer and closer, she suddenly felt an arm grab and jerk her away from the street and onto the sidewalk where she fell onto something. As she heard the car drive past, as well as the murmuring of the other students, she opened her eyes and found what she had fallen on.

She immediately jumped off and apologized repeatedly to a young man of about 22, with blonde hair and gray-green eyes, who was sitting on the ground. He stood up, brushed himself off, and walked over to Tohru, who was beet red and bowing frantically. As all the other students were crossing the street, obviously not interested in the couple anymore, he asked calmly to the girl, "Are you all right?"

Still red, she answered, "Y...yes, I'm fine. Thank you for saving me."

"Oh, it's no trouble. I'm just glad you weren't hurt."

She looked up at him and smiled her innocent smile. Somehow, this boy looked familiar.

"Oh! I know where I've seen you!"

He was taken aback by the sudden statement she shouted, and stepped back a little.

"You were the one who helped me at the baseball field, weren't you?"

"Oh...yeah. You were that girl who was trying to find the science building, right?"

"Hai!"

He chuckled a bit and held out a hand.

"My name is Cody Robinson."

Tohru shook his hand.

"I'm Tohru Honda."

The light turned, so they both crossed the street together.

"You're American, are you not?"

"Yeah, I am. I just transferred to this school on a scholarship program not too long ago. I'm still getting used to Japan," he said as he adjusted his shoulder bag.

"Well, your Japanese is very good," Tohru said with a smile.

He smiled back as they reached the other side of the road.

"So, where are you headed?" he asked.

"I'm going back to my apartment to rest. Today was exhausting...."

"Oh, ok then. See you around school."

"Okay, bai bai," she said as she waved to Cody. He walked off in the opposite direction as she headed towards her apartment.

She locked the door behind her and dropped her things on the floor. Tohru tiredly walked over to her bed and fell face first, burying her face in her pillow. She looked over to the side of the bed and picked up the framed pictured of her mom that she kept with her since she first left her grandfather's house.

"Okaa-san.... I wonder how the others are doing without me..."

With that thought, she fell asleep.

A/N:

Hehehe, my writer's block is finally gone. YAY!!! But the bad news is, I won't b able to upload any new chapters next week since I'll b at my mom's house and she doesn't have the internet. T T oh well. Thanx for waiting so long, all of u who r following my story. I hope u liked this chapter, and the next one too! (when I get it uploaded that is. Hahaha)


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